The big three automakers are clamoring for a piece of the hypothetical $25 billion auto-bailout fund. And newcomer Tesla wants a piece of that too, apparently. The startup auto-maker has requested $400 million in low or no-interest loans to fund two upcoming projects (likely their new $70k electric sedan and a low priced third car).Tesla has raised nearly $200 million in capital since 2004, including a recent $40 million convertible debt financing. Prior to the debt round, Tesla unsuccessfully tried to raise $100 million in new capital....
In today's "Oh, snap!" department, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that whatever his company is worth, it's at least too expensive for General Motors to buy, according to Fortune. "I'm not sure they can afford Tesla right now," he said Friday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, in response to a question about whether or not GM should buy a company like Tesla.
"There's an issue with organized labor and trade and management still acts like it's 1955," Musk continued. "There are too many country club memberships, and [GM] management has focused on the wrong thing." Of course, Musk has his own problems: in October, he became Tesla's third CEO in less than one year, announced layoffs and delayed the debut of its forthcoming electric sedan, the Model S.
